10/27/2006 @ 6:10PM

Ford Taurus, R.I.P.

When the last
Ford
Taurus was completed in Atlanta on Friday, auto design aesthetes everywhere could finally breathe a sign of relief.

Once a forward looking model for American carmakers, over the past decade, the seemingly ubiquitous sedan has been plagued by a failure to change, not unlike its parent company.

In failing to evolve what was once the best selling car in America, Ford Motor
has given this country ten years of unadulterated blandness, polluting highways, streets and back roads with an aesthetic so generic that any self-respecting teenager should instead choose a scooter or a pogo ball as an alternate means of transportation.

It wasn’t always the case. With the gasoline shortages and economic woes of the 1970s still bearing on the national psyche, the Taurus, which was released in 1985, became the car that was going run over the foreign competition; the one that would bring the American automobile back to the forefront of the industry.

“It had an interesting design,” said Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University. “It transformed that boxy look into a much more rounded, modern design.”

The Taurus was never hip per say (some critics called it a “jelly bean” or a “flying potato” at the time). And few, if any, ever dreamt of picking up chicks or blazing through a jungle in it. But thanks to its high mileage per gallon and unique design, consumers purchased more than 263,000 Tauruses in 1986, the car’s first complete year on the market.

Six years later, Ford sold close to 410,000 Tauruses, making it the most popular automobile in America.

By 1997, however, a year after the Taurus was re-modeled, the
Toyota
Camry, unseated it, claiming the top spot amongst U.S. consumers.

Since then, Ford has concentrated the bulk of its attention on trucks and sport utility vehicles, which typically generate higher profits. Meanwhile the Taurus, which was still one of Ford’s top selling cars through September, has been largely relegated to fleet vehicles and rental car agencies. (That’s reason enough to take public transportation while on vacation.)

A possible epitaph for the now deceased: The Taurus — driving you to work and back without style.